welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. ministers frb countries around the arctic ocean are trying to work out how best to tap the nation's resources and preserve the environment. japanese. shinzo abe says he will consider meeting north korean leader kim jong-un if it could help solve the abduction issue.

an expert panel with japan's nuclear regulators has concluded one of japan's nuclear reactors sits on an active fault. energy developers are increasingly curious about what lies beneath the arctic ocean. researchers with the u.s. geological survey say continental shelf may hold undiscovered crude oil and natural gas but development of the area remains largely unregulated. ministers from eight arctic nations are trying to change that. members of the arctic council met in kiruna, sweden. u.s. secretary of state john kerry and russian foreign minister sergey lavrov were among those trying to set rules for developing the ocean. they want to protect the marine environment from being polluted. the ministers also granted observer stap stat er status on to japan, china and korea, and three other others. they want a say in how arc tk

resores are uses. experts with japan's nuclear regulator to agency have confirmed the ground beneath a power plant is unstable. they say a reactor on the sea of japan coast sits on an active fault and they say it's at risk, should an earthquake strike. nhk world reports. >> reporter: the experts have been examining the ground beneath the number two reactor. the on-site inspectors began in november. the experts knew beforehand that a fault existed below the facility. their job was to determine whether it was active. they decided in their initial report that it was possibly active. but they came up with an unexpected finding -- they found another fault running nearby. >> translator: we can confirm that the newly found fault could be active. >> reporter: some are

criticizing the expert findings, even before the release of the final report on wednesday. japan atomic power company has presented data and photos disputing that the fault is active. >> translator: the fault running beneath the reactor is not active. we want to emphasize that our assessment is right. >> reporter: but the panel rejected the claim. it said operator's evidence is unconvincing. local authorities also dispute the decision. they are demanding more discussions and inspections. >> translator: the nuclear authorities experts have not held enough objective and scientific discussions. i'm afraid that will cause major confusion and affect the residents. >> reporter: the government's guidelines banned planned

operators from building reactors directly above active faults. that means if the panel's argument is upheld, the number two reactor could be shut down for good. the plant is currently offline. the operator says it will conclude its own survey into the fault by june. panel members say they may review the report if the operator comes up with new findings. that plant is not the only facility facing an uncertain future. the panel is investigating suspected active faults at six nuclear power stations. officials at the nuclear regulation authority say they will decide their next move on this reactor as early as next week. japan's prime minister says he may be willing to meet with the leader of north korea. shinzo abe said he would talk with kim jong-un if that would

help resolve the issue of japanese kidnapped by north korean agents. government officials have recognized that those agents abducted at least 17 japanese citizens in the 1970s and '80s. abe made the remark to a diet committee, on opposition lawmaker and asked him about a visit to north korea by one of his advisors. the trip was made to pyongyang on tuesday. government officials have withheld details of the trip, but they did say he'll stay for a few days. ijima played go-between in 2002 and 2004, as well. he attended summit meetings as an aide to the former prime minister koizumi. abe declined to comment on the latest visit but says japanese officials should take the initiative to solve the abduction issue with the help of diplomats from other countries. >> translator: if a summit with the north korean leader was considered crucial to resolving

the issue, we would have to take this into account when negotiating with the country. >> abe noted that former prime minister koizumi's visit to north korea led to the return of five abductees to japan. north korea's state-run media has reported ijima met with kim jong-il, director of the international department of the ruling workers party. kim is also an advisor of korea-japan amity and friendship association. he is one of the close aides of leader kim jong-un. economic growth for the 17 eurozone countries remains in negative territory. concerns are rising that the slowdown may linger. the european union statistical office released figures from january to march. it says the eurozone's gross

domestic product contracted 0.2% from the previous quarter,makering a decline for the sixth straight quarter. this is the first such consecutive contraction since 1995 when euro data started being collected. germany, the largest eurozone economy posted. a slight recovery of 0.1%. but france, the second-largest, suffered a 0.2% contraction for a second straight quarter. italy's gdp fell 0.5% and declined for a seventh straight quarter and spain suffered a 0.5% drop, a contraction for a sixth quarter in a row. fiscal austerity measures by many eurozone members have led to high unemployment and sluggish personal consumption. officials at honda motor are planning to get back into formula one. sources say the automaker will make an official announcement about a 2015 return to the motor racing event. honda officials are set to provide engines to british racing team mclaren.

they've teamed up before and honda won the f1 car constructor's championship from six straight years from 1986. but honda pulled out of formula one in 2008. they cited business woes amid the global economic downturn that followed the collapse of u.s. investment firm lehman brothers. analysts say honda's comeback may have been prompted by a new rule that will require formula one race cars to install ecofriendly engines. he they say the automaker plans to apply technologies developed for racing to consumer vehicles. boeing has resumed deliveries of new 787 dreamliners, something it hasn't been able to do since aviation authorities grounded the jet in january. the company handed over a plane with a modified battery system to all nippon airways in japan. managers say they plan to manufacture seven jets per month and delivered more than 60 dreamliners this year. boeing engineers redesigned the battery system in line with u.s.

federal aviation administration safety standards. the faa grounded all 787s following two incidents. the battery of a japan airlines dreamliner caught fire at an airport in boston and smoke from a battery forced the pilot to make an emergency landing in japan. jal and ana are scheduled to resume dreamliner flights on june 1st. united airlines will do that on monday. ethiopian airlines and qatar airways have already put the jet back into service. japanese telecom equipment make oki electric industry aims to make inroads into the fast growing latin american market. they plan to buy out an atm unit of a major brazilian corporate group. executives say they have reached a basic agreement to acquire the atm unit of the group possibly by the end of the year. under the deal oki electric will invest $49 million to secure a 70% stake in the atm unit.

this will be spun off from itau and turned into another company. atm demand is surging in emerging economies. that's because their financial industry is developing and power infrastructure is improving. brazil's atm market is expected to grow 20% in two years. here are the latest market figures. personnel from more than 40 countries are conducting joint

military exercises in a thruway for much of the world's oil. iranian commanders have threatened to close the straight of who a of hormuz, the entrance to the persian gulf. 6,500 personnel are taking part in the drills, including sailors from the u.s. navy's 5thfleet. u.s. military leaders say it is one of the largest exercises ever staged in the golf. participants are practicing searching for mines using mine sweepers equipped with sonar. divers then run through drills setting explosives to destroy the mines. u.s. commanders say they want to be ready should any other forces try to block their way in the gulf. >> they could be anybody, put mines in the water, these 40 some countries today can show how we utilize all our particular skills and people. >> the exercise will continue through the end of the month. defense officials from around asia have headed to singapore with their checkbooks in hand. they're eyeing up everything from missiles to attack boats at

an international defense fair, but it is not just a trade show. it is also a show of political power. nhk world's mark ho reports. >> reporter: the three-day long arms show opens on tuesday. it is held once every two years and attracts mainly naval officers from asia and elsewhere. on display are mock-ups of the latest missiles and vessels, along with radar equipment. not just china and india. asean countries like singapore, indonesia and vietnam are also keen to modernize their military assets. participants from southeast asian nations appear to be more inquisitive than ever. they attentively listen to exhibiters and try to collect up-to-date information on the

arms on offer. in the background of this activity is china's escalation of its maritime power. in march, a chinese ship reportedly fired at a vietnamese fishing boat in the disputed south china sea. in the same month, china conducted a large-scale military exercise off malaysia. every year beijing increases its defense spending by about 10% putting great pressure on southeast asian nations. >> we had planned to upgrade our system. and then we tried to make our armed forces bigger. >> reporter: also on display at singapore's naval base are real vessels and warships from different navies. showing the greatest presence was the united states. it showcases for the first time

a vessel that can operate in shallow waters. it's called a lcs and it can travel at more than 70 kilometers per hour. it's capable of a variety of missions, including mine clearing, anti-surface operations and anti-submarine warfare. its low height enables it to cruise shallow waters where conventional warships cannot maneuver. the u.s. chose singapore as the u.s.'s first deployment site. last week the u.s. secretary of the navy came to singapore to inspect the vessel for an event. >> freedom and lcss are tangible, essential elements of america's commitment to this strategy, to this region, to the asia pacific. that commitment will not waiver

and is not in doubt. >> reporter: the u.s. continues its arms build-up in the asia pacific region despite domestic pressure to cut its defense spending. one expert says this u.s. military shift will have an impact on china's naval strategy. >> it sends a signal that the u.s. is here and that it's putting some substance behind its declaratory commitments. >> reporter: in the face of an emboldened china, the u.s. is trying to maintain its influence. the struggle between the two major powers over the waters of asia appears to be growing. mark ho, nhk world, singapore. u.s. naval commanders are making another show of their military ability out at sea. they conducted the first-ever launch of a drone from an aircraft carrier. the x-47 drone is about ten

meters long and 20 meters wide. operators carried out a test flight of one off the state of virginia. they catapulted it from the deck of the "uss george h.w. bush" over the atlantic ocean. landing on an aircraft carrier is more difficult than taking off from one so the operators landed the drone at an airport inland. u.s. commanders have made the development of drones for information gathering one of their top priorities. a powerful cyclone is churning through the bay of bengal and has killed at least three people in sri lanka and left thousands more displaced. it is expected to hit myanmar in bangladesh later this week. officials in myanmar are urging residents to flee, but evacuation efforts are not proceeding smoothly. tropical cyclone brought heavy rains and landslides to sri lanka. the central and northern

provinces were the most severely hit. officials at the disaster management center say that more than 7,000 people are affected. of those, about 4,000 have been displaced. in myanmar rescuers are searching for survivors after muslims fled ahead of the storm in a boat that hit rocks and capsized on monday night. 100 people were on board. state-run television says 60 of them remain missing. before the accident, the victims were living in tents in flimsy shelters at a camp in a low-lying area in a western state. camp is home to about 140,000 refugees, most of them row heene ya muslims who fled a deadly conflict with buddhists last year. they're denied citizenship. government officials are trying to relocate the camp residents to higher ground. some refugees who have already relocated following the violent conflicts are reluctant to leave the camp.

>> translator: i lost my mother and two daughters last year in the clash between muslims and buddhists. i've lost everything. that's why i pray to allah to let everyone here die in the storm. i don't want to go anywhere. if i die, i want to die here. >> u.n. officials estimate about 69,000 people are living in low lying areas that are at a high risk of flooding and landslides. they issued a warning last week saying a humanitarian catastrophe could develop if people are not evacuated. myanmar's government meteorologists say the tropical cyclone mahasen may be the most powerful system to hit the country since 2008. the storm devastated the nation's southern delta and left more than 130,000 people dead or missing.

the decrease in the value of the yen has helped to increase the number of tourists who want to travel to japan. an estimated 850,000 people visited from overseas in march, a record for the month. but even with the savings on the currency exchange, budget travelers still find japan expensive. those who go to the city of osaka, though, can now find a more affordable home away from home. >> reporter: this osaka hos stal was built decades ago. the price for one night starts at $15. so these days, 90% of the rooms are usually taken. >> i'm traveling on a budget so looking for cheap place.

it is difficult to find a cheap place so this is really like special. >> reporter: several decades ago, the district where the hostile is located. economic times were better then and construction was booming so the area drew job seekers from different parts of japan. but when the recession set in, jobs disappeared an many workers left. in the '80s, 25,000 lived here. now, it is 1/15 of that. to bring in more customers, local hostiles have started taking in foreign tourists like back peakers. >> translator: we learned that there weren't many cheap hotels for foreigners so we decided to try catering to them. >> reporter: japan's government is trying to attract foreign tourists, but meeting their diverse needs has been a challenge for locals not

accustomed to foreign ways. this district already has 10,000 low-priced rooms, so it is expected to attract a lot of backpackers. but if that's to happen, some things have got to change. this professor teaches international tourism. he has also set up a visitor's center to help foreign tourists in the area. >> translator: to attract more tourists, japan needs to accommodate visitors, like many overseas tourists who don't spend too much money. we need to offer more options. >> reporter: like maps foreigners can read. this old map was located at the entrance to the district. the professor decided to make a

bilingual version adding english descriptions. he asks local high school students to help him. they completed the map in april and put it up at the train stati station. >> translator: i want this map to be a symbol that welcomes foreign tourists to the district. >> reporter: right now only about ten hostels in the area accompany overseas guests. other owners take it daunting to take care of people that don't speak japanese or understand the culture. >> translator: first, i can't read the alphabet. and if foreigners are going to stay here, we have to remodel the rooms. >> translator: many hostel owners want to welcome overseas tourists but they're not ready to act. i think they have to open up to

new ideas. >> reporter: the former laborers district is not yet a full fledged tourist area, but economic necessity is convincing more hostel owners to welcome overseas guests. a powerful cyclone is churning through the bay of bengal. here's rachel ferguson with details of that and more in her world weather forecast. rachel. the storm has actually intensified as it moves toward the northeast. we're now getting winds of over 100 kilometers an hour and gusts will be -- sorry, that's winds of 83 kilometers an hour and gusts up to 102. it is moving 20 kilometers an hour north-northeast so we're still looking for a landfall in bangladesh on your thursday into friday overnight. that said, a lot of the rain actually has been felt across eastern portions of india at the

moment. we're going to start to see it track further towards the northeast now and certainly there will be plenty of rain to come in the next few days. even after making landfall and weakening off to a deep depression, which it will do fairly quickly as it starts to move over land, the system is still going to be spreading heavy rain right in across the land after making that landfall and downgrading. so that in addition to storm surge is going to mean there will be a very high risk of flooding and landslides to come. into eastern asia, we've been talking about some heavy rain here as well. in china there is a stalled-out front which is bringing some really significant rainfall. in the last 24 hours, places like human province has seen upwards of 22 1/2 millimeters in the last 24 hours. that will be with you through this weekend along this front. tail end has started to push into the southern japanese alands. this is what we see this time of year, the beginning of the rainy

season in okinawa and among the islands. in the next 24 hours, 100 to 200 millimeters of rain is expected. as for the main japanese islands, to the south it is mostly dry but we are seeing a low moving through, bringing thunderstorms to the northern half. we'll see some of the scattered thunderstorms coming into tokyo tomorrow as well. some of them could be a little on the severe side. temperature wise, a little bit cooler down in shanghai today. 21 degrees. 25 meanwhile in chongqing. wet weather is moving into tokyo as well, 25 degrees here, staying dry and warm in beijing at 26. okay, let's head on into europe. here the west is still goi to be dominated by this low pressure system. it is split into a couple of systems now. one taking aim at the iberian peninsula, france and coming into italy here. you're going to be seeing severe thunderstorms, gusts up to about 60 kilometers and hour and toward the alpine region in italy. short-time heavy rain as well.

anything up to about 50 millimeters in the space of just 6 to 12 hours can cause flash flooding. fairly chilly out here as well. the rest of the continent looks quite warm. it is going to be unstable for western portions of russia as well as down and darnaround bla sea, turkey area. but between these two areas of rain and storms you are going to be finding dry weather, high pressure pushing in toward the baltic states so that's going to improve your temperatures here and keep things dry. we'll take a look at those temperatures for thursday. 18 degrees in stockholm. 25 in warsaw. mid 20s in berlin, as well as in vienna. out towards the east, warmer, in moscow as well as kiev, 28 and 27 respectively. you've got those pop-up thunderstorms as well mixing in with that. towards the west it will be considerably cooler, just 14 degrees in london and only 17 in madrid. here's your extended forecast. ♪

that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo. from all of us here at nhk

world, thanks for joining us. have a great day, wherever you are.

♪ from the four winds and the scent of the earth come the color of the seasons. exploring the four seasons of japan. sometimes we are desperate to see our wishes come true. sometimes we need a little help to make sure we reach our dreams.